Monday, December 13, 2010

Now I, Dr. Grumpy, consider myself a reasonably good neurologist. And I stay in my comfort zone. I don't try to treat chest pain, snotty noses, or dogs.

And, unless I really had no other options, would definitely NOT pretend to be able to fly a plane.

But Captain William Hamman, a senior jumbo jet captain for United Airlines, has apparently been doing both. He really is a pilot.

At the same time (sort of like in Catch Me If You Can) he's been passing himself off as a doctor. Not just any doctor, but a cardiologist. And he's done training courses for the AMA, American College of Caridiology, and FAA. He's done CME lectures at accredited training programs.

Guess what? After many years of doing this, he turns out not to be a doctor at all! He never did residency, or fellowship. He briefly attended medical school in the late 1970's, but dropped out and never graduated.

....and then we have people flying jets without licenses as well: http://www.thelocal.se/25330/20100303/

Considering I have to surrender my maiden name, license numbers for all states I am licensed in and my birthdate to get my CE credits to print out, the level of deception these guys manage is incredible. Almost like a completely different personality.

WV: Glyzest. Sounds like a diabetic medication that smell like citrus. Instead of gym locker or 'blackberrries'......

I have to say this however, that sometimes we make certain assumptions based on past presentations: Think of this..I have been giving flu shots offsite at all sorts of places of business, nursing homes, etc for several years. Not ONCE has anybody at any site asked me for any kind of credential or identification. They have made an assumption because I work for X company as a pharmacist that I must BE a pharmacist and perfectly legal to go into their place of business and stick holes in their arms and inject stuff. So may it be with this guy. Where-ever he got into FIRST never checked HIS cred's and it opened doors at other places that made the assumption that because he worked at A, he must be ok to work at B...ps. I always carry my cred's...

Somewhere down near the bottom of that article, it said he didn't actually see patients, but gave seminars, wrote journal articles, and the like. I don't think you need a genuine doctorate to do that. He's still impersonating a licensed professional, though.

I note also that before all the publicity on this hit, the AMA was going to let him complete the last seminar he was signed up to give; they merely reprinted the course material with the word "Captain" instead of "Doctor". That didn't happen once word got out.

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

Singing Foo!

Have Dr. Grumpy delivered automatically to your Kindle for only 99 cents a month! Sign up here!

Dr. Grumpy is for hire! Need an article written (humorous, medical, or otherwise) or want to commission a genuine Grumpy piece for your newspaper/magazine/toilet paper roll? Contact me to discuss subjects. You can reach me at the email address below, or through my Linked-In profile.

Note: I do not answer medical questions. If you are having a medical issue, see your own doctor. For all you know I'm really a Mongolian yak herder and have no medical training at all except in issues regarding the care and feeding of Mongolian yaks.